How many more ranking tournaments can O'Sullivan win?

[The Boss]

He'll win 0-4 more
He'll win 4-8 more
He'll win 8-12 more

???

[Qubit]

Probably as many as he wants.

[dannyd0g]

He will probably be the pre-tournament favourite and the man to beat for everything he enters for at least a couple more seasons. When interviewed this week he reckons he should be in the top 4 for another 4 years or so. That sounds about right. Over the next 4 years he may well win 1 or 2 a season, maybe more maybe less.

After that the rate may well decline, as he may well be past his prime by then. But Jimmy and Steve were still winning events when way past their peaks.

So I would guess Ronnie may win another 8 or so rankers before he retires....

[craigslater]

Hopefully all world titles

[cueman]

When you consider he hadn't won a ranker before the UK for about 2 years I can't see him really win more than say 2 or 3 over the next 3 years.
For me he is going the way of Higgins and Williams, capable of producing superb stuff one day but his form can dip to very average the following day. I just don't think his all round game is strong enough to win many more tournaments now.

[missneworleans]

4-8 probably not more. Probably it's too late to win more

[wildJONESEYE]

Probably as many as he wants.

other players have a say you know.........

he played very well in the Grand Prix final infact far better than he has played this week and Marco Fu beat him............

[davyp26uk]

other players have a say you know.........

he played very well in the Grand Prix final infact far better than he has played this week and Marco Fu beat him............

Yes but Marco Fu has undergone a real transformation over the last couple of years and he also has quite a good record against Ronnie in the Permier League.

[dannyd0g]

Someone mentioned yesterday this would have been Ronnie's milestone 20th ranking win.

Somehow if Ronnie had got into the 20s yesterday it would have seemed just about possible that he could catch up to Steve Davis who is on 28 !

Before this i hadnt really though that it would ever be possible for Ronnie to catch The Nugget. But Steve is obviously not going to win any more now.

Unfortunate that Ronnie did not close the gap yesterday, but there is still just about time to for him do it.

[Nugget]

It's been a good season so far for O'Sullivan, 3 ranking finals, winning one of them, and he wasn't even at the Shanghai Open.

Fu played very well to beat him in the Grand Prix, and he just lost in the decider last night, and he'll be very dissapointed not to have won that one.

He's definitely a contender for all tournaments, with Murphy and Selby the other big players, I think. O'Sullivan seems to have the measure of Murphy, but any games against Selby are always going to be hard for him.

I wouldn't want to predict how many ranking tournaments he'll win now, but you'd have to expect...a few!

[The Boss]

I'd like to see him face Higgins in the World Final this year

[Black_cat]

I'd like to see him face Higgins in the World Final this year

Fine, then Higgins will comfortably defend his title. I think John may have turned into Ronnie's biggest boogey-player, so yes.

[April madness]

Aren't Ronnie and Higgy meant to meet in the worlds semifinal this year? I think they are same half of draw.

[The Boss]

Fine, then Higgins will comfortably defend his title. I think John may have turned into Ronnie's biggest boogey-player, so yes.

Why do you say that? I think they've only met once this season and Ronnie beat him at the Premier League. They bring out the best of each other and i'd rather see a contest between these two than Selby. I find it amusing that people are writing the two off so much at the moment. When it comes to the World Championship, we should see Higgins and O'Sullivan at their best. It helps them that more pressure and expectation is on Selby know. I expect him to get beaten

[Black_cat]

Why do you say that? I think they've only met once this season and Ronnie beat him at the Premier League. They bring out the best of each other and i'd rather see a contest between these two than Selby. I find it amusing that people are writing the two off so much at the moment. When it comes to the World Championship, we should see Higgins and O'Sullivan at their best. It helps them that more pressure and expectation is on Selby know. I expect him to get beaten

I'm not talking this season, I'm talking about the fact that Higgins beat Ronnie on the last three occasions they met in MT competitions. Beat him both ways, either demolishing him (the 05 GP) or stealing the last black (the 06 Masters). Of course, the comfortable scoreline was to be added later, at the 07 Worlds. PL doesn't count here, in my opinion.

*I couldn't agree more, but as a Ronnette, I'd love to see O'S win a Higgins MT encounter, for a change.